The year I stopped tracking mileage the dumb way

I used to just jot down my odometer readings on sticky notes every time I drove to a client site, and then I'd spend 3 hours every March trying to decipher my own handwriting. Last April my accountant told me I was missing over $800 in deductions because I couldn't prove half those trips when I got audited. Has anyone else switched to an app for mileage tracking, or am I the last freelancer to figure this out?

3 comments

3 Comments

troyc1710d ago

I finally switched to an app last tax season after my CPA literally handed me a printout of the IRS rules on record keeping with a sticky note that said "please". That was a wake up call for sure. I use MileIQ now and it logs everything automatically when I drive, so I just swipe through trips at the end of the week and mark them as business or personal. The auto detect thing isn't perfect though, sometimes it logs a trip to the grocery store as a client visit and I have to fix it, but it's still way better than digging through old gas station receipts from 8 months ago with my terrible handwriting.

craig.olivia10d ago

Isn't it funny how we'll happily spend money on an app to solve a problem we could've fixed just by being more organized in the first place? It's like paying for motivation.

sean4810d ago

The funny thing nobody mentions is how these apps actually change your driving habits over time. I noticed after a few months with MileIQ I started taking the long way to client meetings just to log more miles lol. It's like gamifying your deductions and you don't even realize you're doing it. Also worth noting that the auto detection thing people complain about is actually a feature in disguise because it catches trips you would have completely forgotten about otherwise. That grocery store trip you mentioned might not qualify but it reminds you to check if you stopped anywhere work related along the way.